Regular naval air operations from the Naval Air Enclave (NAE) of Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) got under way on Wednesday with the naval taxi link inaugurated by V.J. Kurien, CIAL managing director.
Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni, Chief of Staff of Southern Naval Command, was present on the occasion.
Mr. Kurien said the airport would extend all cooperation to the Navy in carrying out air operations towards maintaining maritime security around Kochi.
Captain Satish Kumar S, Officer-in-Charge of the NAE, said that the commencement of regular air operations from the enclave would go a long way in strengthening the cooperation and mutual support between the Navy and CIAL.
The NAE is located on the northwest side of CIAL and is spread over 10 acres, which was taken over by the Navy from CIAL.
The need for the air enclave was felt to overcome the limitation of shorter runway length that exists at INS Garuda , the Naval Air Station at Naval Base, Kochi, which restricts operations of bigger military aircraft.
Using the CIAL runway, the Naval Air Enclave is capable of supporting operations of Long Range Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft like the P8-I, which has superior search and rescue capabilities, which was demonstrated following Cyclone Ockhi.
